John’s debut album for Go! Discs was released a mere 21 years ago but it still sounds current! A 4 track promotional sampler was released featuring Sunshine’s Better, The Downward Pull Of Human Nature, A Little Strange and Step It Up.

For all the vinyl fans out there Universal Music have announced that a number of John’s classic albums are to be reissued on 180 gram top quality vinyl. All are straight forward reissues of the original albums and artwork without any additions on freshly pressed top quality vinyl.

Release date of 12 May 2017 – Inside Out is available here and Sunday’s Child is available here.

Released on 14 April 2017- Bless The Weather is here. The Tumbler is here.

May You Never: The Essential John Martyn was released by Universal Music on 25 November 2016. A budget priced compilation of previously released album tracks, alternate takes and mixes.

This imaginatively titled ‘essential’ compilation from Universal (following 2013s Sweet Little Mystery: The Essential John Martyn) includes 58 songs over 3CDs in a fold out digipack and is part of a series of releases in the same format that includes Status Quo, Dusty Springfield and Diana Ross amongst others.

Nothing new here for the majority of John fans. Compilation available here. Further details in the discography section here.

Incredibly it is 20 years since John released his album And. In this article Mark Cooper reviews the album and briefly interviews John.

Caught On The Hop

John Martyn, now label mate with Portishead, has been checking out the Chicago house scene, and revising his wardrobe. Mark Cooper salutes his return to eccentricity.

JOHN MARTYN – AND on Go! Discs
Martyn’s debut for Go! Discs home of Paul Weller, Portishead and Gabrielle.

One of the great maverick stylists of British music, John Martyn has been out on a limb in recent years, marooned first by some increasingly safe albums for Island in the mid ’80s and then by a deal with Permanent, who appeared to hide everything he recorded. Latterly, he seemed doomed to play out his middle age on an endless circuit of Britain’s town halls and arts centres, raging at his long suffering fans and churning out increasingly perfunctory readings of the likes of May You Never. Fortunately, Martyn’s finally been picked up by a label which fosters home grown talent, and promptly returned his best work in many a moon.

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Volker Bredebusch, promoter, friend and perhaps most of all a massive fan of everything John Martyn!

Volker promoted and tour managed for John in Europe for many years and also recently helped Beverley by organising a tour of Germany. Volker had an infectious enthusiasm, a great sense of humour and an encyclopedic knowledge of music!

He had beaten cancer once but it returned early last year with a vengeance, “life brought another unexpected surprise at the very start of the new year, after a sudden thrombosis in my right leg I couldn’t move and finally at the hospital they found a tumor beside my liver. So after 7 years without, I’ve got the C Blues again, well well well, I’m with the experts now in Essen and they’re known to be among the best in Germany for this. Let’s see what they can do, I will hold my head up high and keep on moving, hoping the slow train doesn’t come around the bend too soon..”

Volker lost his hard fought battle with cancer on 5th September. Our thoughts are with his family, particularly Jürgen and his ‘almost family’ Ian. Rest in peace Volker.